Google Inc today vowed to keep its European HQ, and its 1,500 jobs, in Ireland.
Google said it was strongly c...

Google Inc today vowed to keep its European HQ, and its 1,500 jobs, in Ireland.

Google said it was strongly committed to keeping its European base in Dublin and still sees positives in the former 'Celtic Tiger' economy.

Ronan Harris, director of online sales and operations for Google EMEA said Google saw no reason to move elsewhere.

"We remain strongly committed. We think there are an awful lot of positives about the Irish economy that can be built on and that we can leverage to our advantage as well," Harris said.

Harris said that the high cost of doing business in Ireland, which has been blamed for Dell's decision to shift European manufacturing to Poland, appeared to be turning with a fall in consumer prices and wages.

"That hard look at Ireland's cost base is going to continue and that is only going to improve the outlook for some of the multinational companies as they consider their European operations," Harris said.

Google's workforce is largely made up of multinational graduates who are attracted to the lifestyle in Dublin and Google's "work hard, play hard" philosophy.

"It's not all bad news about the Irish economy," Harris said. "There still is a lot of positive information out there. It's easy for us to talk ourselves into a depression."